Toyotaku, your offerings to the diecast gods have paid off. This is the first official photo of the Hot Wheels 1970 Toyota Celica. We saw a prototype of this car a few months ago, but had been sworn to secrecy by the Mattel high command. It was hard keeping it from our fellow JNCers but the cat’s out of the bag now!
We’re thrilled to report that it’s an early coupe, and in true Hot Wheels fashion it comes equipped with proper JDM GT stripes, works-style headlight covers, and period dark green metallic finish.
Once again this is the the work of our nostalgic hero, Jun Imai, the man responsible for the recent boom in vintage Japanese Hot Wheels like the Datsun 510, Toyota AE86, hakosuka and kenmeri Skylines, Mazda RX-7 and the Mad Manga.
In one week Mr. Imai will be at our spot at JCCS signing autographs, so come by the JNC booth and meet him!
[Image: Mattel]
Sweet! I’ll be first in line!
Not if I can help it hahaha
Thank you for posting this JNC, Jun and Hot Wheels.
(I have a strong need to look for this Celica now…patience is needed).
And 2013 already becomes one of Hot Wheels’ best years…
I just crapped the biggest brick… Thank you hotwheels!! Can’t wait to see what else they have in store for us…
Dammit! I have little enough free time as it is now. Now I gotta hunt for this celica too?!? First world problems, I know! Thanks a lot, hot wheels!
I hope it will hit on our local stores here in Brunei.
It’s got the TRD spoiler that helps the cars rear end and I think I’ll have to track one of these down to go with my Kenmery.
i had a good strong feeling that they would do a daruma celica im puttin this in my collection for sure domo arigatou mr imai i thank you ;D
So awesome on every level! I am packing up my house for a move and I realized just how many Hotwheels I have hanging around! Good to hear the new place will have more!
Flying out to Cali in six days for JCCS, will def have to Mr Imai sign a few for me.
does it have side-exit exhaust too or is there just an imperfection in the base casting? (first pic, middle of the car)
Side exhaust 🙂
i thought it might be, with the covered lamps. so excited for this car
also side note, but i think you’re my hero, jun. I don’t think there’s a car you’ve designed that i don’t have at least one copy of. from those weird acceleracers (in my defense i was a kid when those came out and i thought they were just the bees knees) to that neat citroen-like car, from the slammed nissan titan to the strange open-wheel subaru wrx. i don’t think anyone else at mattel has made so many awesome cars, and that was even before you started giving us all these nostaligcs. i dunno if the mad manga car was yours, but it makes sense, and that car got my mom into the whole zokusha and bosozoku thing, so that’s something. i’m rambling, but tl;dr jun imai is a pimp
I Like It and I Love It. I Will be Getting 1.
theres an intersting thread going on at the official hotwheels site about a “japanese classics” series for 2014. if you can ignore the blatantly ignorant comments about j-tin you can make suggestions cause the guys at mattel do read and listen.
http://forums.hotwheelscollectors.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/55210875/m/3131092477/r/7251081677#7251081677
Jun and Hot Wheels… you ROCK!
I have to add this to my collection!!!
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS
I’ve been waiting for this for years. Thank you Jun! :hug:
Awesome!
Tnks Mr. Imai.. You rock big time. My prayers have been answered 🙂 I think this is the first time a 1stgencelica on HWs. I hope it wont stop here. Different colors. Tnks again
What day is the release for the 2013 line?! I must add this to my collection!!
They will start filtering in late 2012, rule of thumb is 2 months or so after the announcement.
If you live in Northern Colorado and want one of these.. you’ll likely have to talk to me.. as I will have bought them all. THANK YOU JUN!!!!!!!
Oh dog, I hope we get these. It’s been so disappointing that most local stores have downsized their HW offerings and rarely restock. Haven’t seen an RX7 in stores and bought the only two Mad Mangas (both red/yellow) I could find.
Please release this in light blue!
Wow! It looks great!! Are you after the high 50’s crowed. I will be looking for one in any color. Thank you!! P.S. I still have my first hot wheels.
hey guys if you thought the daruma celica was kool then youll love the datsun five ten wagon thats also coming out which i have no doubts yous guys will hear about it here at JNC soon
I just found some at Walmart (in San Diego for the weekend) so they’re out now!
Had a great day today. I had to buy two entire 9-packs to get them, but I got the black-and-white AE-86 with JNC markings and the Celica GT. They’ll probably come out individually now that I paid all that money, but I didn’t want to risk it! I’m happy that the Corolla has smaller wheels than those dumb, gigantic white ones that came on the other ones I have. Although the body is still out of proportion to the top. Oh well; the same thing applies to the S15 and the 350Z too. Can’t have everything I guess.
Now I’ll have to keep an eye out for this Datsun wagon and hopefully the BRE 510 race car.